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After he resigned, he became an activist for gay rights. Ulrichs is regarded by some as the pioneer of the modern gay movement and the first person to publicly “come out.” In fact, Volkmar Sigusch, a leading German scholar in sexual science, described him as “the most decisive and influential pioneer of homosexual emancipation … in world history.” Ulrichs was a judge in Germany but was forced to resign in 1854 after a colleague discovered he was gay. Baker also served as a spy for the French during World War II, passing along secrets she heard while performing for German soldiers. She was one of the most successful African-American performers in French history and used her platform as an entertainer to advocate for desegregation, refusing to perform in segregated venues and even speaking at the 1963 March on Washington. Josephine Baker was a well-known entertainer of the Jazz Age and identified as bisexual. Johnson, along with Rivera, was a central figure in the beginning of the gay liberation movement of the 1970s in the United States.
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She was alongside Sylvia Rivera at the beginning of the Stonewall riots, and together they founded S.T.A.R. She served as a mother figure to the drag queens, trans women, and homeless youth of Christopher Street in New York City. Johnson was a black trans woman, a sex worker, and an activist who spent much of her life fighting for equality. She was an activist even on her deathbed, meeting with the Empire State Pride Agenda about trans inclusion. She also fought against the exclusion of transgender people in New York’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries), a group focused on providing shelter and support to queer, homeless youth, with Marsha P. After the Stonewall riots, where she was said to have thrown the first brick, Rivera started S.T.A.R. Sylvia Rivera was a queer, Latina, self-identified drag queen who fought tirelessly for transgender rights, as well as for the rights of gender-nonconforming people. In honor of Pride Month, discover some of history’s most prominent LGBTQ figures and their lasting impacts. Johnson, or become cultural icons through their work, like writers Virginia Woolf and Ifti Nasim. But it’s also a time to honor the people who have paved the way for gay rights activism, like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Rainbow flags are hoisted high, droves rush to parades, and LGBTQ-identifying people and allies adorn their best Pride regalia. Pride is a time for celebration and acceptance.